Junior Gold Cup

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AUSTRALIAN RUGBY’S NATIONAL YOUTH COMPETITION
KICKS OFF IN 2014
The Junior Gold Cup (JGC) is a national long term talent development and competition program at U15 and U17 age levels. The truly national nature of the JGC competition provides players, coaches, administrators and match officials with the opportunity to be involved in high levels of representative rugby programming and development at a National level on an annual basis whilst maintaining local/regional representation.

The scheduling of the JGC program allows players to compete in a National competition involving 24 teams in each age group while at the same time being able to participate in their local club and school competitions. The JGC program is an evolution of the Junior Gold Program conducted over the past two years and is a key part of Australian Rugby’s “Pathway to Gold†that will provide talented players an opportunity to compete against the best in their age group across Australia. High level performance and development in this competition will provide players with the foundations to push for medium to long term higher level representation including the ARU’s National Gold Squad, State and National U20 teams, the Australian Sevens team and ultimately Super Rugby and the Wallabies.

Players selected in their regional Junior Gold Cup squad will receive:
Expert coaching from highly trained local coaches and involvement from fulltime Australian Rugby Elite Programs coaching staff
Strength and Conditioning programs delivered by highly trained local coaches and designed by fulltime Australian Rugby coaching staff
An extensive ‘Lifeskills’ program – Australian Rugby’s off field development program promoting character development, respect and behavioural standards
Training and playing apparel
National competition involvement and exposure
Training for the JGC will commence in November 2013 and the competition will be conducted from mid-February until the end of March. Selection trials will be held in October in each region. Dates for trials in all centres will be advertised shortly.

Teams participating at both U15 and U17 level are as follows:
Queensland: Brisbane (4), Gold Coast, Darling Downs, Sunshine Coast, Central Qld, Townsville, Cairns
NSW: Sydney (4), Western NSW, Illawarra, Central Coast, Hunter, Northern Inland, North Coast; and
ACT, WA, SA, Victoria

Try Rugby Home > Pathway to Gold > Junior Gold Cup Junior Gold Cup

AUSTRALIAN RUGBY’S NATIONAL YOUTH COMPETITION
KICKS OFF IN 2014
The Junior Gold Cup (JGC) is a national long term talent development and competition program at U15 and U17 age levels. The truly national nature of the JGC competition provides players, coaches, administrators and match officials with the opportunity to be involved in high levels of representative rugby programming and development at a National level on an annual basis whilst maintaining local/regional representation.

The scheduling of the JGC program allows players to compete in a National competition involving 24 teams in each age group while at the same time being able to participate in their local club and school competitions. The JGC program is an evolution of the Junior Gold Program conducted over the past two years and is a key part of Australian Rugby’s “Pathway to Gold†that will provide talented players an opportunity to compete against the best in their age group across Australia. High level performance and development in this competition will provide players with the foundations to push for medium to long term higher level representation including the ARU’s National Gold Squad, State and National U20 teams, the Australian Sevens team and ultimately Super Rugby and the Wallabies.

Players selected in their regional Junior Gold Cup squad will receive:
Expert coaching from highly trained local coaches and involvement from fulltime Australian Rugby Elite Programs coaching staff
Strength and Conditioning programs delivered by highly trained local coaches and designed by fulltime Australian Rugby coaching staff
An extensive ‘Lifeskills’ program – Australian Rugby’s off field development program promoting character development, respect and behavioural standards
Training and playing apparel
National competition involvement and exposure
Training for the JGC will commence in November 2013 and the competition will be conducted from mid-February until the end of March. Selection trials will be held in October in each region. Dates for trials in all centres will be advertised shortly.

Teams participating at both U15 and U17 level are as follows:
Queensland: Brisbane (4), Gold Coast, Darling Downs, Sunshine Coast, Central Qld, Townsville, Cairns
NSW: Sydney (4), Western NSW, Illawarra, Central Coast, Hunter, Northern Inland, North Coast; and
ACT, WA, SA, Victoria

 

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Inaugural Junior Gold Cup to deliver future Australian Rugby stars
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Share ShareThis 12/20/2013
By ARU Media Unit




Teams from 24 centres across Australia - from Cairns to Perth - have been selected to compete in the inaugural Junior Gold Cup, a national youth championships for Under 15 and Under 17 boys culminating in finals in April next year.

More than 3,000 boys participated in trials throughout October and November, with local Rugby centres across Australia selecting 60 players, 30 for each of their representative U15 and U17 teams.

While the Junior Gold Program has existed since 2009 as a development opportunity, this is the first time the program will be held as an official championship showcasing the country’s top young Rugby talent.

Junior Gold Cup Manager, Hugh Carpenter, said the championship is designed to deliver the future stars of Australian Rugby.

“As part of a player’s long term development, the Junior Gold Cup will provide a solid pathway to assist our talented players in their Rugby careers,” said Carpenter.

“The competition will give kids across the country access to high quality Rugby competition and development opportunities.


“This will provide a consistent approach for players who aspire to play professional Rugby in the future.”

The Junior Gold Cup divides the U15 and U17 teams into a Northern and Southern Conference. The event will be played in a round robin format with each Conference split into two pools of six teams.

The Northern Conference Final, between the winner of pools C and D, and the Southern Conference Final, between the winners of pools A and B, will take place on Sunday 30 March, while the overall winners of the Conference Finals will compete for the Junior Gold Cup on Saturday 5 April, coinciding with the Queensland Reds versus Western Force Super Rugby match in Brisbane.

The Junior Gold Cup aims to incentivise local Rugby centres to independently source sponsorship, with funds to be matched ‘dollar-for-dollar’ by Australian Rugby Union up to a value of $10,000.

General Manager of Development Pathways, Ben Whitaker, said this initiative creates a sustainable financial model for the inaugural tournament to establish itself and continue to grow into the future.

“Many centres have achieved this goal with a concerted effort to source funding from local councils,” said Whitaker.

“The critical role volunteers and local centres play in supporting local talent to play at the national level is very impressive. We seek to provide quality coach, administrator and match official exposure through this championship, as well as providing quality exposure for Australia’s best young Rugby talent.”

The Junior Gold Cup has been established in addition to existing club and school programs, allowing boys from all sporting backgrounds Junior Gold Cup.

“This new competition is the first of its kind for Australian Rugby. I’m excited to see the level of enthusiasm shown by the number of kids that have attended trials and the many volunteers helping us across the country,” Whitaker said


Teams in each of the 24 Rugby centres began training at the start of November with the first game of the Junior Gold Cup championship set to kick off in Brisbane on Friday 14 February between Brisbane Yellow and Gold Coast as a curtain-raiser to the trial match between the Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels at Ballymore.

 

[flying tiger]

DEC 30, 2013
INAUGURAL JUNIOR GOLD CUP TO DELIVER FUTURE AUSTRALIAN STARS

Inaugural Junior Gold Cup to deliver future Australian stars

National competition announced for U15 and U17

Teams from 24 centres across Australia - from Cairns to Perth - have been selected to compete in the inaugural Junior Gold Cup, a national youth championships for Under 15 and Under 17 boys culminating in finals in April next year.

More than 3,000 boys participated in trials throughout October and November, with local Rugby centres across Australia selecting 60 players, 30 for each of their representative U15 and U17 teams.

While the Junior Gold Program has existed since 2009 as a development opportunity, this is the first time the program will be held as an official championship showcasing the country's top young Rugby talent.

Junior Gold Cup Manager, Hugh Carpenter, said the championship is designed to deliver the future stars of Australian Rugby.

"As part of a player's long term development, the Junior Gold Cup will provide a solid pathway to assist our talented players in their Rugby careers," said Carpenter.

"The competition will give kids across the country access to high quality Rugby competition and development opportunities.

"This will provide a consistent approach for players who aspire to play professional Rugby in the future."

The Junior Gold Cup divides the U15 and U17 teams into a Northern and Southern Conference. The event will be played in a round robin format with each Conference split into two pools of six teams.

The Northern Conference Final, between the winner of pools C and D, and the Southern Conference Final, between the winners of pools A and B, will take place on Sunday 30 March, while the overall winners of the Conference Finals will compete for the Junior Gold Cup on Saturday 5 April, coinciding with the Queensland Reds versus Western Force Super Rugby match in Brisbane.

The Junior Gold Cup aims to incentivise local Rugby centres to independently source sponsorship, with funds to be matched 'dollar-for-dollar' by Australian Rugby Union up to a value of $10,000.

General Manager of Development Pathways, Ben Whitaker, said this initiative creates a sustainable financial model for the inaugural tournament to establish itself and continue to grow into the future.

"Many centres have achieved this goal with a concerted effort to source funding from local councils," said Whitaker.

"The critical role volunteers and local centres play in supporting local talent to play at the national level is very impressive. We seek to provide quality coach, administrator and match official exposure through this championship, as well as providing quality exposure for Australia's best young Rugby talent."

The Junior Gold Cup has been established in addition to existing club and school programs, allowing boys from all sporting backgrounds Junior Gold Cup.

"This new competition is the first of its kind for Australian Rugby. I'm excited to see the level of enthusiasm shown by the number of kids that have attended trials and the many volunteers helping us across the country," Whitaker said.

Teams in each of the 24 Rugby centres began training at the start of November with the first game of the Junior Gold Cup championship set to kick off in Brisbane on Friday 14 February between Brisbane Yellow and Gold Coast as a curtain-raiser to the trial match between the Queensland Reds and Melbourne Rebels at Ballymore.

 

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Rebels

U17 JUNIOR GOLD CUP TEAM TRAINING STRONGLY

Victorian team working hard

The Victorian Junior Gold Cup U17 team was selected in October, and are now just four and a half weeks away from beginning their campaign.

The brand new national competition, which sees the Rebels in a pool with five other sides from across Australia, sees the winners of each of four pools meet in Semi Finals in late March. The winners of that match then play off as a Curtain Raiser for a Queensland Reds match at Suncorp Stadium in April, and RaboDirect Rebels' Manager of Elite Pathways Matt Tink believes that the Victorians can achieve some great results in the tournament.

"We are really looking to win our pool and qualify for the Semi Finals," Tink says. "The way that the competition is structured is that we have our first home game at Moorabbin Rugby Club, and then we go away to New South Wales for three games in three days. Two weekends later, on March 23rd, we play our final game at Harlequin Rugby Club, and hopefully then we'll be off to Sydney for the Semi Finals."

The squad have been working exceptionally hard since being selected.

"The main squad are training two days a week, and the top echelon of the squad join the Victorian U20s for a third day's training every week," Tink explains. "Since being selected.

"The main squad are training two days a week, and the top echelon of the squad join the Victorian U20s for a third day's training every week," Tink explains. "Since Christmas, they have stepped up their Rugby training. They have come back from the break in great physical condition, so the Rugby content has increased and the strength and conditioning training has become more specific. Connor Daly, the Head Strength & Conditioning Coach, has run a great program and got them in great nick."

It's not just Daly whose coaching has impressed Tink; joint Head Coaches Simon Strachan and Nic Henderson have been working very hard as well, and Tink believes they are the perfect toil for each other.

"Simon Strachan's attention to detail and relaxed nature works really well with these boys. He is able to get the team to do what he wants to do, and does it well. I could tell two years ago that Nic Henderson was destined to be a very good coach, and he has taken a mature approach in getting involved with young players; it's fantastic for the kids, and also for Nic's development as he prepares to coach Footscray's Dewar Shield team for the first time in 2014." The newly created competition gives Rugby a legitimate pathway to compete with the other football codes in the country at both an U15 and U17 level, and Tink is full of praise for the program.

"This competition is vital; the Australian Rugby Union (ARU) should be praised for their commitment and their financial commitment," Tink said. "It is fantastic, and gets more kids into the Rugby pathway; it brings in kids that were looking to excel in other sports, and gives them a national pathway. It means that we can compete for athletes with AFL, Rugby League and Soccer."

"Every player has to make a significant financial contribution; it is a set fee for each player in each team across the country. The ARU then assist with accommodation and airfares where needed, and many of our players have also organised their subs to be covered or partially covered by personal sponsors. The kids are also selling raffle tickets to raise additional funds. Ideally, we'd love a major sponsor for the team, and we're talking to a few different people to try and make that happen."

A number of young players have caught Tink's eye, and one in particular has even been asked to train with the RaboDirect Rebels over his school holidays

"Sione Tuipulotu has taken part in a lot of sessions with the Melbourne Rebels, which has been fantastic for him," Tink says. "He has participated in a lot of sessions during his school holidays, sitting out the contact sessions, but he has been taking a lot out of that opportunity.

"Another kid who keeps going from strength to strength, and who has the potential to be something special, is Jordan Uelese; he is an absolute stand out. Xavier College's Declan Cox has excelled in the program, Robert Leota has been very good and JP Sauni has lost about 15 kilograms and is looking very good; we're really pleased with him.

"From here, the contact sessions increase markedly, and we are taking many things from what the Rebels squad are doing at training as well. We're really pleased with how the squad are tracking."

To see the full Victorian U17 Junior Gold Cup squad, click here.